Today I’m looking at two stocks that should continue making waves in January and beyond: Cineworld Group (LSE: CINE) and Gym Group (LSE: GYM).
Screen gem
Cinema giant Cineworld lit up the market in Wednesday trading with the release of stunning full-year results.
While the stock was last 1% lower from last night’s close, this represents nothing more than light profit-booking after recent share price strength — the screen star struck record peaks above 600p in the prior session.
Cineworld announced today that admissions hit an all-time high above the 100m marker during 2016, with blockbusters like Star Wars: Rogue One and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them prompting moviegoers to flock to their local multiplexes.
As a result, total revenues at Cineworld surged 12.6% last year. And not surprisingly the business remains upbeat looking into this year and beyond, and expects a fresh line of exciting releases like Star Wars: Episode VIII and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales to keep driving ticket sales.
And Cineworld is embarking on further expansion to capitalise on rising footfall and keep revenues tilting higher. The firm plans to open six new cinemas in the UK this year alone and another seven overseas.
Not surprisingly the City expects these measures to keep driving the bottom line. Cineworld is expected to follow anticipated growth of 4% last year with expansion of 14% and 8% in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
These forward projections create P/E ratios of 15.9 times for this year and 14.7 times for 2018. I reckon this is a snip given Cineworld’s excellent momentum.
In rude health
Britons’ love of the cinema is just one of the themes to play this year, in my opinion, with the still-rising fitness craze also set to keep driving revenues at The Gym Group.
Revenues at the company soared 25.1% during January-June, The Gym Group advised in its latest trading statement, with membership numbers leaping by almost a fifth in the period. And the company plans to open between 15 and 20 new gyms each year to make the most of surging demand.
The number crunchers expect The Gym Group to have flipped back into the black in 2016, swinging to earnings of 5.3p per share from losses of 2p in the prior period.
And fitness freaks are expected to keep this positive trend rolling with excellent bottom-line growth of 43% in 2017 and 25% next year.
Although P/E ratios of 25.3 times and 20.3 times for this year and next may be slightly toppy on paper, PEG figures of 0.5 and 0.8 for 2017 and 2018 suggest The Gym Group is attractively priced relative to its near-term growth prospects. A number below one is broadly considered brilliant value.
And I reckon the company’s next trading update scheduled for this week (January 12) could provide The Gym Group with fresh share price fuel.